September Edition 2020

33 As the Coronavirus pandemic continues to impact the global economy, we catch upwith those lawfirms who ranked in Israel Desks League Tables - at the very top of their game - and asked for some of their insights and experiences and found success and hope. JoeyShabot ,M anagingShareholder in theTel AvivofficeofGreenbergTraurig: “A few years ago, our office together with GT’s Las Vegas office, hosted a cocktail reception in Tel Aviv to welcome Brian Sandoval, then Governor of Nevada. The idea was to give the Governor the opportunity to see firsthand what Israeli innovation was about. One of the guests that evening was an Israeli entrepreneur who had developed a unique technology for growing fish in the desert using special pools. He was looking for opportunities to develop into the U.S. Through a conversation with the Governor, the two realized the business potential that exists in bringing this idea to the Nevada desert: the entrepreneur would gain access to developing his product in a suitable location for this unique business, with attractive benefits offered by the State, while Nevada would be home to this innovative company that could create jobs and eventually bring in significant revenue. This is a success story to this day, with the Israeli entrepreneur having set up in additional locations in the U.S., with the support of our office. This is just one example of how we help Israeli companies succeed abroad. Jeremy Lustman , p artner and Head of Israel group at DLA also pointed out some key highlights: We have recently advised on the USD 100 million raised by Gett, the Haymaker/Arko transaction just announced, global employment projects during this highly sensitive period for over 20+ companies, venture debt deals for a number of clients, and active deals in the Netherlands, China, the U.S., Spain, Russia, and the UK. Jonathan Morris , p artner and Co-Chair of Israel practice at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP (“Bryan Cave”) added: One of the highlights has been advising Amiad Water Systems on FIMI taking a controlling interest in the AIM-listed company. It was quite a challenging deal at times, but I was delighted to have the opportunity of working with some of Israel’s top law firms (GKH, Naschitz Brandes Amir and Barnea Jaffa Lande), as well as the GC and Company Secretary of Amiad, Ben Gilad. Asking the UK-based director to agree to hold a shareholders’ meeting in his home due to COVID-19, with everyone else joining virtually, was one of the more unusual moments! Sharing success stories